An NAB request for the FCC to refresh the record on the state of the streaming industry could get some traction at the agency, but reviving the long-dormant proceeding on reclassifying streaming services as MVPDs and generating the same retransmission consent dollars that now come from cable companies would likely be a much heavier lift, said broadcasters and network executives. “You don’t need a commission vote to refresh the record,” said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, now a partner at Cooley, which represents broadcast affiliate groups and broadcasters such as Gray Television. The big four TV networks aren’t interested in refreshing the record and believe the current system of compensating affiliates for streaming rights works, a network executive told us.
A draft order on updating references in FCC rules to Nielsen publications is expected to be approved with few changes at the agency’s Nov. 17 meeting, FCC and industry officials told us. Though the NPRM that preceded the order led to calls from Commissioner Nathan Simington and broadcasters for the FCC to scrutinize its relationship to the ratings company, the draft order says it's “premature to initiate a proceeding at this time” on the matter: “There is currently no apparent alternative data source for the Commission to rely upon.”
Low-power TV and TV translator virtual channel assignments and changes should be limited to avoid conflicts and confused viewers, said NAB, the Society of Broadcast Engineers and others in comments posted this week in docket 03-185. Allowing translating stations to change their program and system information protocol (PSIP) “carries a very real risk of causing viewers to think that the translator or LPTV station is the originator of the programming, when that is not the case,” said SBE. Broadcasters in the docket also discussed apparent errors in a proposed FCC method for calculating station coordinates, and restrictions on low-power television relocation.
Some broadcasters are seeing lower than expected political advertising and possible continued shortages in the auto industry, plus are certain how an economic downturn will affect their businesses, executives from iHeartMedia, Gray Television and Sinclair Broadcast said on Q3 earnings calls this week. “We are truly disappointed that several unexpected factors will keep us from hitting our previous guidance” on political advertising for 2022, said Gray co-CEO Hilton Howell, noting the results for Q3 are still up 30% from political ad results for Q3 2018, the last midterm election year.
Unions opposing the Standard General/Tegna deal said Friday the companies' recent document submissions to the Media Bureau show Standard hasn’t been truthful with the FCC about its intention to cut jobs at Tegna, but the buyer said the groups are just rehashing their previous arguments. According to the acquisition agreement, there’s about a month left before -- if the purchase hasn’t been approved -- a “ticking fee” takes effect that will raise the cost per share of Tegna at a rate that increases the longer the deal lingers. The FCC has traditionally sought to avoid being the cause of triggering such provisions, broadcast attorneys told us. Responses from Standard and the other parties to Thursday’s supplementary filings from the unions are due Thursday.
A draft NPRM on proposals to increase cybersecurity requirements for wireless emergency alert and emergency alert system participants is expected to be unanimously approved at Thursday’s FCC commissioners' meeting, with few changes from the draft version, industry and FCC officials told us. The item seeks comment on proposals including cyberattack reporting rules and requirements that participants certify cybersecurity plans. No changes have been made so far, though a few tweaks are possible before the vote, officials said. Experts said they expect the agency to take likely costs of any new rules into consideration.
Regulators and lawmakers need to create a more friendly regulatory environment for broadcasters if they want to preserve local journalism and continue living in a democracy, said Hearst Television President Jordan Wertlieb and E.W. Scripps CEO Adam Symson at NAB New York Wednesday. Panels at the event also touched on cybercrime, the advertising market and ATSC 3.0.
The FCC’s second request for information is “highly irregular” and fodder for “an endless fishing expedition,” said Standard General, Tegna and investor Apollo Global Management in their joint response to the Media Bureau’s questions, posted partially redacted Friday in docket 22-162. With just days left on the deal’s 180-day shot clock, the transaction isn’t expected to progress soon at the commission and could be in danger of being blocked, broadcast industry officials told us. Standard, Tegna and Apollo “are astonished that this Transaction, with all of the benefits that it offers to the public interest, is at the receiving end of unrelenting and baseless attacks and delay tactics from the petitioners,” said the information submissions.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a request from NetChoice and CCIA to keep a Texas social media law from taking effect while a U.S. Supreme Court hearing of the case is pending, said an order Wednesday in docket 21-51178. The 5th Circuit previously ruled that the law doesn’t violate the First Amendment (see 2209190080). “This ruling means Texas’s unconstitutional law will not be in force as the issue of government-compelled dissemination of speech makes its way to the Supreme Court,” said CCIA President Matt Schruers in a release. “We are confident these laws will not stand.”
Advocates for blind and hearing-impaired individuals praised progress on making emergency information accessible but want further improvements, speaking during the FCC’s virtual Video Programming Accessibility forum Thursday. Viewers with significant hearing loss spend their days relying on closed captioning, and thus have high expectations for captions on emergency information, said Lise Hamlin, Hearing Loss Association of America director-public policy. Hamlin and other panelists said the ability to move captions around on the screen to avoid obscuring other information would greatly aid accessibility in emergencies. The graphic displays of emergency information used by newsrooms often originate as data, so it should be possible to incorporate that data into additional audio streams, said Anil Lewis, National Federation of the Blind executive director-blindness initiatives. Broadcasters have to balance screen real estate with the need to display graphics in ways their audience can understand, said ABC-owned stations Vice President-Technology Pat Stahl. ATSC 3.0 should provide additional options for offering accessible emergency information, said NAB Vice President-Engineering and Technology Policy Kelly Williams and Televisa Univision Senior Vice President-Local Media Engineering Javier Garcia. The new standard allows a multitude of additional audio streams and could allow notifications to warn viewers when alternative aural information is available, said Williams. The difficulty of switching between a primary audio stream and a secondary one is a common complaint among the visually impaired, said Kim Charlson, executive director-Perkins School for the Blind library. For consumers, there shouldn’t be any distinction between online and over-the-air content for accessible emergency information, Charlson said. "The consumer should have the same expectation," she said.